Nokia sales hit 13-Year low as phone demand misses estimates

Nokia Oyj, the Finnish mobile-phone maker seeking a comeback, reported its smallest quarterly revenue in 13 years as handset demand waned, missing analysts’ estimates and sending its stock down as much as 13%.

“The lower-end mobile-phone business is not doing well,” Mikko Ervasti, an analyst at Evli Bank Oyj in Helsinki, said in a phone interview. “They need to start pushing their Microsoft- based Lumias into cheaper prices to gain traction in emerging markets.”

Nokia fell as low as 2.30 euros and lost 6.1% to 2.47 euros at 3:49 p.m. in Helsinki. The stock tumbled 22% last year, its fifth straight annual drop, and had lost 10% this year through yesterday.

The revenue was the smallest since the third quarter of 1999, when Nokia was still a more diverse company with business lines including computer monitors. Its focus on mobile phones pushed quarterly revenue to a record 15.7 billion euros in 2007, after which competition from Apple Inc. led to sliding sales.